1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical conductor which is composed of an electrically conductive material containing aluminum, and is surrounded all round at least in an area intended for a connection of an electrical contact element by a protective layer which is used for corrosion protection (DE 22 50 836 A).
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical conductors composed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy are being increasingly used as a replacement for copper conductors, in particular for weight and cost reasons. The main fields of use are, for example, automobile technology and aircraft technology. The lower electrical conductivity of the aluminum in comparison to copper is of secondary importance for most applications. In order as far as possible to preclude oxidation of the surface of a conductor such as this, it is embedded in a protective layer, after appropriate pretreatment. A protective layer such as this, composed of a zinc-tin alloy, is applied, for example according to the initially cited DE 22 50 836 A, by ultrasound coating to the end of a previously solidified, multicore conductor composed of aluminum. The aim in this case is for the oxidation layer on the conductor to be rubbed off it by vibration.
In the following text, the word “conductor” represents conductors composed of aluminum and conductors composed of an aluminum alloy. Both materials are also referred to in the following text as “conductive material”. Conductors such as these are known as solid conductors or as braided conductors. They are of such a size that, on the one hand, an adequate cross section of conductive material is available for current transmission and, on the other hand, adequate mechanical strength of the conductor is ensured, in particular with respect to tensile loads. The relatively large amount of material use that this results in is partially compensated for by the weight advantage in comparison to a conductor composed of copper.